Painted Smiles
by Gratiae
Summary: In the end, the light in life can always win out over the dark. But sometimes it needs some help from The Go-Go's. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.**

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4 January 2010

"I should have known all along that time would tell." No amount of enthusiasm could compensate for the terrible voice singing the words at the top of her lungs, and he had never heard anything sung with quite so much enthusiasm.

Dr. Spencer Reid smiled as he closed and locked the garage door behind him. He followed the voice from the garage, down the hall, through the kitchen and to the living room where the music blared the loudest. The first sight to greet him was a set of legs sticking straight up over the back of the couch, one still with a spindly, four-inch yellow stiletto clinging to the toes as both feet moved with the song, off by about half a beat. The shoe's matching partner lay on the floor behind the couch where it had fallen.

"A week without you thought I'd forget. Two weeks without you and I still haven't gotten over you yet!" The stiletto flew off her foot as she kicked and it went straight up before falling down and clattered to the hardwood floor a few feet from where he stood watching.

"Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away. Vacation, meant to be spent alone!" She sang the chorus with more enthusiasm than The Go-Go's did and Spencer suppressed laughter, biting the inside of his cheek. He watched her dance; well, he watched her feet dance and grinned as he leaned against the wall. The song ended and the singer took a breath as the next song started.

Padding silently up to the couch, Spencer grasped one of the legs by the ankle and Calliope Sellers jumped awkwardly on her back, shrieking and kicking her free leg at him.

"MARY, JOSEPH AND THE CAMEL!" Calliope shriek-gasped when she saw it was him, hand clutched dramatically to her heart and bright red hair shooting out at all directions like she'd been electrocuted. "Sweet Jesus, you're trying to kill me. Why are you trying to kill me? I'm always nice to you! Oh my _god_, I swear I just had a stroke. Ugh. I need an aspirin. I need an antacid. I need a cardiologist. I need alcohol. I need to get a bell to put around your neck."

"Do you want to put a tracking chip in the back of my neck too?" Spencer massaged the bottom of her foot gently.

"It's a thought. Or a house arrest anklet. But I like the bell idea best."

"Any particular type of bell you'd prefer?" Spencer slipped the no-show pantyhose liner from her foot and dropped it next to it's mate.

"A loud one," Calliope snarked at him, rubbing her now free foot against his side. Spencer smiled, working his thumb into the arch of her foot. "Or I'm whacking your knee and making you use the crutches again. They squeak. I missed you, String Bean."

"I missed you too. Sorry it took so long."

"Yeah, because you have control over how long it takes to catch an unsub. How was it? I saw that you saved the three women she'd abducted. Even the diabetic one made it."

"We got there just in time."

Calliope sat upright as Spencer rounded the couch and sat next to her. She cuddled into his side, resting her head against his chest and slung her legs over his lap. Spencer wrapped his arm around her and tugged her close. Reaching up, she pulled his head down and kissed him.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Wanna watch Doctor Who?"

"Not really."

"Wanna watch me dance around to The Bangles and look goofy, then twist my ankle in my heels and blame you for it?"

"That sounds good."

Calliope laughed her high, tinkling laugh and kissed his chin. They sat this way for a bit, listening to _Lust to Love_, Calliope softly singing the words into his shirt and tapping her feet against the arm of the sofa and bobbing her head in time with the beat. Halfway through the song, she was dancing in her seat and singing full out.

By the time _Tonite_ came to and end, Spencer had almost completely forgotten about Samantha Malcolm, her dolls and her father, or pushed them into the back of his mind as he focused on Calliope. Perses popped his head up from where he'd been sleeping in front of the hearth and watched for a few seconds then jumped up, all gangly puppy legs and no centre of balance.

Calliope shoved herself up from the couch and danced over to the puppy, picking the tiny ball of black, brown and white fur up and dancing with him.

"See the kids just getting out of school, they can't wait to hang out and be cool. Hang around 'til quarter after twelve. That's when they fall in line!"

Perses' legs were sticking straight out and he bristled, wanting to be back on the ground.

"Kids got the beat! They got the beat, yeah, they got the beat!"

When the record ended, Calliope put the terrified dog down and he scurried over to Spencer, whining until Spencer let him up in his lap. Calliope kept twirling, her full skirt flaring out and poofing around her waist in a cloud of yellow fabric.

"Oh! I made cake!" Calliope exclaimed, stopping suddenly.

"And didn't burn down the kitchen. I'm impressed," Spencer scratched Perses between the eyes.

Calliope mock glared at him and grabbed his hand, dragging him back into the kitchen. On the counter was a beautiful white cake, perfectly frosted with brightly coloured M&M's rimming the top and bottom. Spencer bent over and studied the candies.

"These M&M's have faces. You put faces on the M&M's."

"It's festive!"

"Festive for what?"

"I need a reason to be festive? Here, have a taste!" Calliope grabbed a fork and took a chuck of the cake, shoving it in his mouth before he could say anything. "Well?"

"It's the best tasting cardboard I've ever eaten."

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**A/N: ****There is no quote for this, because it's inspired by a challenge to write a 1000 word vignette prompted by a picture I saw a bazillion years ago on Tumblr because "a picture's worth a 1000 words." Hur, hur, hur. So witty. Anyways... ****[25(dot)media(dot)tumblr(dot)com/tumblr_lj95hpCzzz1qbv43uo1_500(dot)jpg**] That's the picture. Just put a period where it says (dot), okay?

**This was orignially supposed to be a birthday present for my Scottish friend Jessica, but I had a writing breakdown and it just never got finished. But I'm feeling so much better now and got inspired to finish it. So it's finished! Yay! It's probably a lot different that I originally meant for it to be, but whatever. Yay for plotless fluff!**

**These characters, of course, are the two lead protagonists in most of my one-shots and in my multi-chapters _Mystery Muse _andit's sequal_ Welcome to the Whirlwind_. If you want to find out more about Dr. Reid and Ms. Sellers you now know where to find it! I hope you enjoyed this vignette and enjoy the rest of my _Mystery Muse_ universe.**

**Okay, so I'm in Indiana visiting my love Brittnee, so I'm going to go be sociable and get off the computer! Love yall!**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it and, please - tell me what you think - good or bad!**

**Love, Thalia**


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